Why San Francisco needs to ban cat declawing

Sally Stephens and Susan Wheeler

Published 4:00 am, Friday, September 11, 2009

Photo: Stephen Lam, The Chronicle

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In the arms of Animal Care Supervisor Eric Zuercher, Sadie, a declawed three year old cat, shows its declawed front paw while waiting for adoption at the San Francisco Animal Care and Control Shelter in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Sept. 4, 2009. San Francisco supervisor Ross Mirkarimi had recently proposed a legistation in banning declawing in the city after the City's Animal Care and Welfare Commission voted 5-1 in recommending the ban. Declawing, also known as onychectomy, according to The Human Society of the United States, is a surgical procedure often done by amputating the last bone of each toe for reasons ranging from people's fears of being scratched and preventing cats from damaging household items. less

In the arms of Animal Care Supervisor Eric Zuercher, Sadie, a declawed three year old cat, shows its declawed front paw while waiting for adoption at the San Francisco Animal Care and Control Shelter in San ... more

Photo: Stephen Lam, The Chronicle

Why San Francisco needs to ban cat declawing

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The law does not remain static: It changes as our understanding of issues expands and our societal values evolve. Consider, for example, cat declawing.

Forty years ago, people routinely removed their cats' claws to keep them from scratching the sofa. Most were unaware of the cruelty and consequences of the procedure. Put simply, declawing is like cutting off each of your fingers at the top knuckle.

Today, we know that declawing can cause intense pain that can last the rest of the cat's life, which can make it refuse to use a litter box. Society's view of the procedure has changed significantly.

That's why declawing a cat for no-therapeutic reasons has been banned in more than 20 countries, including nearly every European nation. Once a community views a procedure as inhumane, how could it be allowed to continue?

In 2003, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution strongly urging cat guardians and veterinarians to stop declawing cats, noting that many humane alternatives exist. Advocates considered pushing for a ban then, but decided to see if education would work. Unfortunately, a recent informal survey showed there are still those in San Francisco who won't try the alternatives, and there are those who will perform the procedure simply because a guardian asks for it. Education alone has not worked.

In August, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi introduced legislation to ban declawing in San Francisco, except when medically necessary for the cat's welfare. The state Constitution gives local governments broad powers to decide what constitutes animal cruelty and to pass laws to prevent it. With Mirkarimi's legislation, San Francisco's law will finally catch up with our changed values about animals and animal cruelty in general, and declawing in particular.

Ironically, the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals opposes the ban, arguing that more cats will be turned over to shelters because they claw the furniture. But recent studies have shown that, in fact, the behavior problems associated with declawed cats (especially biting and avoiding the litter box) can actually make it more likely that people will turn their cats over to animal shelters.

Once in shelters, declawed cats are frequently euthanized. Indeed, a yearlong survey by SFSPCA staffers in 2003 showed that, because of these behavior problems, the SPCA declined to take declawed cats from the city shelter to put up for adoption at nearly twice the rate as nondeclawed cats.

It is time for San Francisco to step up and say that nontherapeutic declawing has no place in the city of St. Francis.

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